


Volving

by shobogan



Category: Batgirl (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Costume Change, Fix-It, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Identity, Post-Infinite Crisis (DCU)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 10:17:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13456158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shobogan/pseuds/shobogan
Summary: Cassandra comes home, but Batgirl doesn't.





	Volving

**Author's Note:**

> This is set somewhere between the end of Cass's Batgirl series and One Year Later.

For most of her life, she didn't know the power of names. 

When she came to Gotham, she learned the power of symbols – the way people looked at them sprayed on crumbling bricks and cracking stone, shoulders tensing with fear or easing with relief. 

Eventually, she learned what the most important one stood for. Eventually, she became part of that too, and her name was Batgirl.

She doesn't know when, exactly, Barbara gave her a second name. She said it a few times, apologising and switching to Batgirl, until Batgirl's mind was twisted into new shapes and she had more words to use. Words to ask.

Barbara had dipped her head, rueful and wistful. “My code name – Oracle – it comes from an ancient language. Ancient myths. An oracle was someone who could see the future, and guide people in the right directions.”

Batgirl nodded - it made sense, that Barbara would choose that – but she waited for the rest of the explanation. How she could possibly fit in to that. 

“Cassandra was a princess, cursed to speak prophecies that no one believed.”

“She spoke...truth. But no one listened.” 

Barbara smiled. “Exactly. I..used it as an alias myself, a few times.” Suddenly, she looked bashful, as if that was a confession. “And you – you have your own language that most people don't understand. You see things most of us just can't.” She hesitated, again. “Cassandra never stopped trying to tell the truth – to warn people, to guide them. No matter how much pain it caused her.”

Batgirl felt her cheeks flush. It only made sense to pull the cowl off. “You see that...in me.” As Barbara nodded, “And you gave me...one of your names.”

Barbara tensed, just slightly, but it melted away when Cassandra embraced her.

The memory replays in her mind as she paces through her Metropolis apartment, warming her chest and soothing her nerves. It almost makes this blank, gleaming space feel like home, like she's not some kind of intruding shadow. After that, she learned about the rest of her family. She already knew the Bat came from fear and will and hope; Alfred told her that Thomas chose Bruce because of an ancient king who fought to free his people. Nightwing came from a different legend, a story from Superman's lost world about justice and courage; Robin had come from his mother, the woman who taught him to fly. Jean-Paul called Azrael the angel of death, but Barbara said it could mean _messenger_ instead. Someone who could guide people, and teach them. Someone who saw death as a journey, and not a punishment. (She can only hope he felt that way, when the time came.)

Superboy was given his name by Superman. Kon-El's family was adopted into the House of El for an act of selfless bravery. (Just like Kon's last act.) 

Stephanie means _crown_ , and she'd laughed as she called herself a queen, doing a curtsy with her cape. After she was gone, Cass refused to leave Gotham until she'd fashioned a crown of flowers to set on her grave. 

When she returned to the ruins of Bludhaven, it was a valley of graves. She helped with retrieval, construction, security. She learned that Brenda meant sword, or torch. As she planted roses at the base of an ivory tombstone, she whispered the last words she'd say for days. _Thank you. For...lighting my way._

She swallows hard, as she turns to stare at the sunrise. It always looks different, here, broader and brighter.  
She remembers Barbara saying _It doesn't really suit me, but that's kind of the point_. She remembers Bruce asking her to travel with them across the world, and deciding that she didn't have the right to the journey. 

For months now, she's been patrolling Gotham in simple grey body armour. For weeks, she avoided contact with everyone, but Oracle has always found a way. It took a while to pry her away from their city, but eventually she came to visit the new base of the Birds.

Barbara had a dozen different costume designs on her computer, a dozen different names. 

“I'm not going to try and force anything on you. But even if you don't want to be Batgirl – you deserve a name, Cass. You deserve a symbol.” 

Apparently, everyone had given suggestions. Black Bat from Bruce, after a man he met in another time who fought to free and protect his people. _Like you, he was a hero long before we met_. Wight from Tim, because it was used to describe something primal and predatory, but really just meant _human_ ; a symbol of death that truly meant life. _It's silly, but it's always made me think of you_. Dick offered to share Nightwing. _I think Clark would agree that it suits you just as much. And...it was your city, too._

For Black Bat, Barbara designed a costume of sky blue and steel grey, with a red bandanna and matching boots, and a cape that echoed true wings. For Wight, it was a full face mask, a symbol reminiscent of Robin's, and a sleek grey cloak lined with white. Her Nightwing would be be black and bronze, with a swooping mask and finned gloves. 

“These are all just suggestions, obviously, you could make any changes you want, or toss them out completely, or - “

“Barbara. Stalling.”

“...Yeah.” She changed the page again, and Cassandra saw Aegis. Barbara explained it was the shield of Athena, that it had become a synonym for protection. The costume was a blend of gold armour and emerald fabric, striking a noble silhouette. 

The tentative uncertainty was familiar, and it made the embrace easy, easier than it had been in a long time.

Now she's alone with her choices in the rising light, dressed in her nameless suit. She presses hand to the window, letting the warmth seep into her skin. 

Who does she want to be? What does she want people to see? Who does she want to honour?

“Cass?” Barbara's voice echoes from the new transceiver in her suit; there are no filters, nothing to distance or disguise her. “I just wanted to check on you. I know we dropped a lot on your lap, yesterday.”

“Yes. Thought...patrolling would help.” It didn't, not really. She could imagine fighting in every costume, but it didn't push her towards a decision. 

“You know – you don't need to choose any of them, if - “

“No. I...love _all_ of them. All of...you.” 

There's a moment of silence, and she wishes she could _see_ Barbara's reaction, but she doesn't really have to. “We love you too, Cass.”

“But you're...still here. Not – everyone is.” She holds up a hand, stalling any response, because she knows Barbara can see _her_. “Nightwing...comes from Krypton.

There's another beat of silence, and then, quiet and gentle,“Kon-El's heritage.”

“Yes. And – if you made the bronze...shinier?”

“Gold. For Azrael.”

“And I thought...we could add a hood. And the, um. Leg belt. That she liked.”

She can hear Barbara's breath catch, and knows it's because she didn't turn away from the comms, didn't try to hide. “Of course.” 

Cassandra closes her eyes, and smiles into the sunlight.

“Thanks.”

**Author's Note:**

> Bruce was talking about Samuel Braxton, who he met in _Batman_ 600\. I was also inspired on that score by RenaRoo's [Silent Saddles](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4877722), a Justice Riders fusion in which Cassandra becomes his protege.


End file.
